Who You Are
by emily.s.ivey.1
Summary: When Emma is struck with a curse in Neverland, the only chance of restoring her is for the crew to experience all of her life's memories. Those memories are what made her who she is, which is exactly what needs to be restored to her.
1. The Only Way

The last thing she saw was a blinding flash of light before everything was gone. She was nowhere, she was no one, everything was gone.

Emma lay on the jungle floor lifeless while Pan and his lost boys retreated elsewhere. First to reach her was Hook which surprised all the others, but then they all circled around, Regina bending down to get a good look at the damage needing to be healed. Once she realized what had happened, she looked at the others with certain worry and pain in her eyes.

"What happened?" Asked Snow, "She isn't…" She could not even finish her sentence.

"No, she's not dead," Regina began to answer, "but she's not here either. Emma is gone, all of her memories, all of who she is. But yes, she is alive."

This is when Hook decided to intervene, "then what do we do? We cannot lose her, we cannot lose Emma!" He had sounded so desperate that it caused everyone else to look at him with curiosity, but not for long.

"There is only one thing we can do. We have to go into her subconscious and experience all of her memories. Once we do that I can cast a spell to renew them which will make her good as new. The hard part is, is that we will experience everything. It may take a lot out of all of us, especially sense she probably has very few good memories. We will not be able to interfere or change anything, we merely experience and watch. Does everyone understand?"

With that they all nodded not really sure what to expect from the memories of the girl lying there on the forest floor, but they were going to do whatever it takes to get her back.

Regina gave them all one last worried look before she finally said "alright." With that, they all experienced a swirling motion, which they all knew meant this was really going to happen.


	2. An Innocent

When the swirling stopped they were in an apartment where they saw an older woman and her husband talking quietly. Just before any of them could make out what they were saying a little girl came bounding into the room running up to the couple. It was Emma, who looked about three, her curls held tight in a pony tail bouncing behind her. The couple looked down at Emma, kind smiles on their faces, but the smiles looked absolutely forced. Still, the little girl could not tell the difference, to her they were the people who will love her forever, hope seemed to shine in her eyes.

This moment made both Snow and Charming smile, their daughter was just so beautiful and surely this must be a good memory, after all who could deny that face. The others however, did not smile because they were not blinded by the couple's fake smile, there was something deeper going on here. Sure enough, with those thoughts the presumed mother started talking to Emma.

"Emma, sweetheart, we have to talk. See, we found out today that we are going to be having a baby."

At this, Emma started to bounce excitedly, "you mean I'm going to be a big sister?"

"Well, no, because you see we only ever wanted one baby. I'm sorry Emma, but we cannot keep you."

Emma's eyes started to fill with tears, "what did I do wrong?" This comment broke all of their hearts, obviously Emma's notion of never being enough started earlier than any of them thought. Snow and Charming now had tears falling down their faces.

"Listen Emma, you didn't really do anything wrong. You're just not our child and the one growing inside of me is. We're not your parents."

"But I don't have any of those."

With that, the memory started to dissolve into something else which appeared to be another home, but this time Emma was already in front of them. She appeared to be not much older, but she was older they were sure of it. This time her hair was down covering her face, but tears were falling down her face. She was unpacking what little she had from a bag, putting her things under her bed. Just then a man came in and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Girl, this is your new temporary home and I am going to tell you these rules only once so you better listen." His voice was so cold it sent a sudden surge of anger through Hook that he couldn't quite place. This wasn't right, even he could not be so cruel to this little girl, but still it felt as if certain things about Emma were starting to fall into place.

"First, nothing here is yours. Second, you will do whatever we say or you will suffer the consequences. You're nothing but another mouth to feed. Understand girl?" When Emma didn't answer he grabbed her by her hair and started screaming, " I ASKED YOU IF YOU UNDERSTAND! GIVE ME A DAMN ANSWER!" "Yes, I understand." "Good, you're probably just a stupid kind of girl. You're nothing."

Suddenly, the scene changed, it was in the same home, but it was night and Emma was sleeping in the pathetic excuse of a bed. However, now it was a teenage boy walking toward her, a concerned look on his face. When he approached her, he very gently nudged her, only so that she would wake up. She nearly jumped out of her skin, but calmed down when she saw who it was. Clearly, he was another foster kid in the home.

"Hey Emma, I have a little surprise for you."

"What is it?"

"We're getting out of here. Pack your bag quickly, we don't have much time to catch this train to anywhere."

Emma responded immediately, throwing everything she had in a bag she had at the corner of her bed. There was a certain type of excitement in her eyes, as though she were approaching freedom at this very moment. When she finished, the older boy took her hand and started to lead her out of the room. The group watching followed them wondering if they were really about to run away. However, when they saw what, or rather whom was around the corner they grew terrified for the two runaways. It was the same man who they have seen pulling Emma's hair. His eyes were bloodshot and he had obviously been drinking, but the worst part was that there was a gun in his hand. He began to approach the two.

"You two are some very naughty children. Running away trying to take my extra income with you. My meal tickets haven't you learned anything, those who are naughty deserve to be punished." With that he held up the gun and shot the boy right where the heart is. Then, another bullet hit Emma and then all was dark. At this moment even Regina was screaming. What kind of heart did this man have? The issues between her and Snow was one thing, but this little girl did nothing to deserve her fate. She was an innocent.


	3. Broken Angel

They were all in a hospital room looking down on a sleeping Emma who looked very beat up. When they all heard the beeping of the machine demonstrating her heartbeat, they couldn't help but take a sigh of relief. Even though they knew she had lived the sound was still a comfort. Little Emma's eyes fluttered open which showed this was not her first day in the hospital. She then lifted the sleeve of her dressing gown to look at something. The group had to rearrange themselves to get a good look and when they did it almost tore their insides out of their bodies. Apparently the man who shot her carved the word "mistake" into her skin as an emblem. Judging by the look on her face, the message must have sunken in really well because they not only held sadness, but resolution. This was the moment she must have when she had given up on being anyone worth anything. In that moment the scene dissolved.

This time there were many little children surrounding Emma and they appeared to be in a school. The woman who seemed to be the teacher announced recess and the majority of the children practically ran outside. Emma however didn't bother. She went into a corner at the back of the classroom and just started reading a book not bothering to interact with the other children. She must have always been a loner. She was always a broken angel.

The scene dissolved again and once again they were standing above a sleeping Emma except now she looked about ten. The door in her room creaked open and a grown man who must have been her foster father walked in. He sat at the side of her bed putting a hand on her to gently wake her. Once she did he smiled down at her with very much kindness. He then began to speak.

"Hey, Emma. I just thought I'd come and check on you since this is your first night. How are you?"

"I'm fine." That looked like all that Emma had to say. _Not much has changed_ thought Charming.

"I've only known you for about five hour little Emma and I have already grown to care about you a lot. I want to show you how much I already love you."

At that moment he moved closer to her putting one hand on her shoulder and another through her hair. He then put his body on top of hers and it was as if all of their worst nightmares started to appear before them. His idea of love was rape and she was so small she had no choice but to obey. There was nothing more that they all wanted to do than murder this man in front of them. But the past is the past, it cannot be rewritten, they could not interfere. It also explained a lot of her character. Apparently the trust issues started way before Neal happened, but they should have known that he would not have helped much either.


End file.
